Marked for Samuel Ellul
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Nov 2035
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match3 Nov 2035
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings5 Nov 2035
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Nov 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Andrews this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Nov 2035
Wages swallow 293% of the St. Andrews income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Match3 Nov 2035
Birzebbuga St. Peter's left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom5 Nov 2035
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The dugout5 Nov 2035
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout5 Nov 2035
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. St. Andrews told Kieran Wilson something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market29 Oct 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Andrews can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Oussama Benhaoua falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match27 Oct 2035
1‑2 to Santa Lucia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout29 Oct 2035
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad29 Oct 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Andrews this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings29 Oct 2035
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout29 Oct 2035
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout29 Oct 2035
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Market29 Oct 2035
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. St. Andrews know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Oct 2035
0‑3 against Mtarfa, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oussama Benhaoua was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom22 Oct 2035
Nobody left the St. Andrews dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout22 Oct 2035
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad22 Oct 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Andrews this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 Oct 2035
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Player ratings22 Oct 2035
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market22 Oct 2035
The name of Joseph Kakara keeps appearing in other people's back pages. St. Andrews say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout22 Oct 2035
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces15 Oct 2035
The mood at St. Andrews has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Oussama Benhaoua and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Ellul was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market15 Oct 2035
The Owen Mason story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Owen Mason signs something — a contract at St. Andrews or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market15 Oct 2035
The clock does Oussama Benhaoua’s negotiating for him
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee St. Andrews could ask drops and the wages Oussama Benhaoua can ask rise.
Squad15 Oct 2035
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Market15 Oct 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Sep 2035
A one-man rearguard from Owen Mason
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match22 Sep 2035
The drought breaks for St. Andrews
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Balzan were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Oussama Benhaoua and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces24 Sep 2035
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match22 Sep 2035
Balzan made St. Andrews work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad24 Sep 2035
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings24 Sep 2035
Marked 7.79 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, St. Andrews had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Interim Coach, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Ellul was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Aug 2035
A fracture rules Nathan Zerafa out for 43 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason St. Andrews will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market13 Aug 2035
Ensell Attard hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Andrews can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Oussama Benhaoua and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Birkirkara have kept their man, and St. Andrews go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom13 Aug 2035
187% of the income goes out in wages at St. Andrews
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Boardroom13 Aug 2035
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
Floriana have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout13 Aug 2035
Kieran Wilson has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at St. Andrews will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Samuel Ellul falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces23 Jul 2035
The mood at St. Andrews has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom23 Jul 2035
The scrutiny sharpens at St. Andrews
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at St. Andrews is running low.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Nathan Zerafa breaks a bone — 64 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market23 Jul 2035
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at St. Andrews, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Jul 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Andrews this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2035
St. Andrews asked and Hibernians said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout23 Jul 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Owen Mason, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2035
A loan move for Tyler Bell is in the works
St. Andrews have made the call to Floriana. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2035
A loan move for Glenn Xerri is in the works
St. Andrews have made the call to Birkirkara. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Jul 2035
A fracture rules Nathan Zerafa out for 85 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason St. Andrews will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market2 Jul 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicholas Hawkins will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around St. Andrews the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market2 Jul 2035
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2035
The deal with Floriana is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The dugout2 Jul 2035
This is not rotation. Ensell Attard has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at St. Andrews is pretending otherwise.
Squad2 Jul 2035
Oussama Benhaoua was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2035
Birkirkara have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Boardroom2 Jul 2035
7 new boys at the St. Andrews academy
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
Market2 Jul 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Apr 2035
Kieran Wilson hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Andrews can pretend not to have heard.
Match16 Apr 2035
Full time on the season at St. Andrews
Position 14 on 20 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Match14 Apr 2035
5 matches without a win for St. Andrews
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around St. Andrews are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Apr 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Andrews this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Apr 2035
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
This is not rotation. Dennis Debattista has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at St. Andrews is pretending otherwise.
Market16 Apr 2035
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Andreas Klein has his answer from St. Andrews; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Match14 Apr 2035
No time for Mtarfa to settle
The goal that put Mtarfa ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when St. Andrews equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Feb 2035
Two goals and a mark of 8.02 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Joseph Kakara and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match10 Feb 2035
A 3‑1 win over Pieta Hotspurs, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2035
St. Andrews asked and Birkirkara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hafiz Mohammed Akadom was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market12 Feb 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nicholas Ellul is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market12 Feb 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Peter Aquilina is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market12 Feb 2035
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nicholas Attard has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market12 Feb 2035
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Samuel Ellul has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.